Growing up in Southern California during the 1960’s, 70’s & 80’s there was a phenomenon called “Guerrilla Art” that I fell in love with at an early age. Artists would choose public spaces and place a spectacular piece of artwork without permits, permission or advance notice in some of the most unusual places. Now many of these artists, art lovers, old hippies and their friends occupy many seats of power in California and have passed laws making what once were looked at as pranks, felonies and high crimes.

The City of Pasadena California now has a fork in the road and the local government is trying to figure out which path to take with it.

Last week a world renown artist placed a fork in the road , Guerrilla style without permission, permits or advance notice. The installation crew wore Cal Trans uniforms, set-up cones and made it look like an official installation during the dead of night when there was almost no traffic, which is a typical time for this type of activity.

It turns out the “Fork in the Road” was a 75th birthday present to Bob Stane who founded the Ice House which is a comedy club and nightclub whose list of performers over the past 40 odd years reads like a “Whose Who” of the entertainment industry.  Mr. Stane now owns a really near “Pasadena Style” place called “The Coffee Gallery Backstage” in Altadena near this now famous Fork in the Road.

The giant wooden fork is a true work of art, painted to look like metal and is set in a professional 2 foot thick concrete foundation poured by the artists. CalTrans and the city inspectors have inspected the installation and declared that it is not a hazard unless someone drives into it. Driving into the fork would require someone to jump over a curb into a center divider.

Now the city wants to leave it there because it looks cool and it’s not a hazard to the public. They are asking that the artist guarantee it is removed to a high quality safety standard when it’s time to come down.

Personally I think it’s great that someone can create a brilliant piece of art that has been planned out for over ten years, then deliver it as a birthday present to a leading member of the community.

The City officials all recognize the value of public art and see themselves saving hundreds of thousands of dollars that the traditional purchase, paperwork and installation of such a piece would cost the city.

We applaud the City of Pasadena for engaging in good government and looking past the technical violations into the spirit of Guerrilla Art that we all grew up with in the Pasadena area during those days long past.

To the artist Ken Marshall… Bravo, bravo and thank you very much for providing this much needed fork in the road to bring us all back to earth.

posted on: Sunday, November 8th, 2009 @ 11:23 am

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